Country Roads: Eb Griper on Facebook. You think?

I saw a familiar rusty old pick-up truck in the coffee shop parking lot as I drove by. It was the ’50-something Studebaker driven by my grumpy old pal, Eb Griper.

Having not seen Eb in quite a well, I made a quick turn into the parking lot. Eb was sitting in a booth by himself, looking like he had lost his last friend. And he has few to spare.

"Good morning, Mr. Griper," I said cheerily as I slid into the other side of the booth.

"Mr. Griper is my old man," Eb said sourly.

"Just trying to show some respect to an older gentleman," I kidded. "And you’re definitely an older gentleman."

Eb said nothing; he just looked down at his coffee.

"What’s wrong, Eb? Bad day? You look even grumpier than normal."

Eb remained silent.

"I saw a meme on Facebook the other day," I said. "It read, ‘Sometimes you need those bad days, because it helps you appreciate the good ones.’"

Eb raised his head and looked at me with incredulity. "What in the heck are you talking about? What is a facebook and what is a meme? Speak plain English."

Now I was incredulous. "You don’t know what Facebook is?"

"No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me."

"I’d be happy to enlighten you," I said. "Facebook is an online social networking service founded 10 years ago to serve students at Harvard University. Once Facebook was opened to the entire world it grew quickly and now it has more than 1.2 billion users." "Your about as exciting as a comatose sloth," Eb grumbled.

Undaunted, I continued. "Facebook allows me to connect with friends, relatives, old school mates, former co-workers. People share family photos, update us on what’s going on in their lives. Some share funny photos or illustrations. That’s what you call a meme."

"I don’t want to reconnect with anybody. Then the next thing you know they’ll expect a Christmas card or will want to visit." Eb paused for a second and then added, "I don’t like house guests. Hilda won’t let me belch in the house when we have company."

I thought for a second and then said, "You know, I think Facebook has something you’d like. Some folks post venomous attacks on political candidates. There’s a lot of hate out there on the far right and far left fringes."